The World Cup has been whittled down from 32 teams to 16 and there have been a fair few shocks in the group stage already. But which sides have been the biggest surprises getting through, and which have been the biggest underachievers? We’ve taken a look through the transfer value of each national team squad to see.
Having the best players isn’t always a guarantee of success at international tournaments but possessing a deep squad should come in handy considering the compressed nature of the 2022-23 season.
Quite a few World Cup regulars – Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iran, Australia – have squads that are worth less than Kylian Mbappe alone, highlighting the diverse profile of the competing nations in Qatar.
Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, who are invaluable to their respective nations, are no longer the highest-valued players due to their age, hinting at the changing of the guard that is a feature of every World Cup.
And some nations have younger players coming to the fore. As an example, Phil Foden has replaced Harry Kane as England’s most valuable player while Jamal Musiala is now Germany’s MVP according to Transfermarkt. We can’t argue with that, really, given Musiala’s electric performances as Die Mannschaft exited early.
The upper echelons of this list are dominated by Europe and South America’s big guns but, as previous World Cups have demonstrated, there’s nothing stopping a lesser-ranked team springing a surprise.
We’ve ranked every squad participating at Qatar 2022 based on their cumulative worth on Transfermarkt from lowest to highest.
32. Qatar – €14.9million
Average player value: €575k
Most valuable player: Akram Afif (€4m)
31. Costa Rica – €18.75million
Average player value: €721k
Most valuable player: Keylor Navas (€5m)
30. Saudi Arabia – €25.2million
Average player value: €969k
Most valuable player: Sultan Al-Ghannam (€2.5m)
29. Australia – €38.4million
Average player value: €1.48m
Most valuable player: Matthew Ryan (€5m)
28. Iran – €59.53million
Average player value: €2.38m
Most valuable player: Mehdi Taremi (€20m)
27. Tunisia – €62.4million
Average player value: €2.4m
Most valuable player: Ellyes Skhiri (€13m)
26. Ecuador – €146.5million
Average player value: €5.63m
Most valuable player: Moises Caicedo (€38m)
25. Japan – €154million
Average player value: €5.92m
Most valuable player: Daichi Kamada (€30m)
24. Cameroon – €155million
Average player value: €5.96m
Most valuable player: Frank Anguissa (€38m)
23. Wales – €160.15million
Average player value: €6.16m
Most valuable players: Ben Davies & Brennan Johnson (€20m)
22. South Korea – €164.48million
Average player value: €6.33m
Most valuable player: Son Heung-min (€70m)
21. Mexico – €176.1million
Average player value: €6.77m
Most valuable player: Edson Alvarez (€35m)
READ: The 16 stadiums that will host 2026 World Cup matches: Mexico City, New York, LA…
20. Canada – €187.3million
Average player value: €7.2m
Most valuable player: Alphonso Davies (€70m)
19. Ghana – €216.9million
Average player value: €8.34m
Most valuable player: Thomas Partey (€38m)
18. Morocco – €251.1million
Average player value: €9.66m
Most valuable player: Achraf Hakimi (€65m)
17. Poland – €255.6million
Average player value: €9.83m
Most valuable player: Robert Lewandowski (€45m)
16. United States – €277.4million
Average player value: €10.67m
Most valuable player: Christian Pulisic (€38m)
Christian Pulisic really gave everything to score for USA against Iran 👊 pic.twitter.com/ZMrK9DaQVf
— GOAL (@goal) November 29, 2022
15. Switzerland – €281million
Average player value: €10.81m
Most valuable player: Manuel Akanji (€30m)
14. Senegal – €288million
Average player value: €11.08m
Most valuable player: Sadio Mane (€60m)
13. Denmark – €353million
Average player value: €13.58m
Most valuable player: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (€45m)
12. Serbia – €359.5million
Average player value: €13.83m
Most valuable player: Dusan Vlahovic (€80m)
11. Croatia – €377million
Average player value: €14.5m
Most valuable player: Josko Gvardiol (€60m)
10. Uruguay – €449.7million
Average player value: €17.3m
Most valuable player: Federico Valverde (€100m)
9. Belgium – €563.2million
Average player value: €21.66m
Most valuable player: Kevin De Bruyne (€80m)
De Bruyne on #BEL winning the World Cup. “No chance, we’re too old… I think our chance was 2018. We have a good team, but ageing. We lost too many key players.” (Guardian) pic.twitter.com/3WIM0CsWI4
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) November 26, 2022
8. Netherlands – €587.25million
Average player value: €22.59m
Most valuable player: Matthijs de Ligt (€70m)
7. Argentina – €633.2million
Average player value: €24.35m
Most valuable player: Lautaro Martinez (€75m)
6. Germany – €855.5million
Average player value: €34.06m
Most valuable player: Jamal Muisala (€100m)
READ: The top 10 players with the most dribbles at the World Cup: Messi, Musiala…
5. Spain – €902million
Average player value: €34.69m
Most valuable player: Pedri (€100m)
4. Portugal – €937million
Average player value: €36.04m
Most valuable player: Rafael Leao (€85m)
3. France – €1.06billion
Average player value: €41.63m
Most valuable player: Kylian Mbappe (€160m
What a player this kid is!! 🤩
Mbappe gets what must be the winner for France with 5 minutes left on the clock!
The 23-year-old now has 7 goals at the World Cup Finals, 2 more than both Zidane and Platini!! 😲#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/pijNvcFt3i
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 26, 2022
2. Brazil – €1.14billion
Average player value: €43.92m
Most valuable player: Vinicius Junior (€120m)
1. England – €1.26billion
Average player value: €48.46m
Most valuable player: Phil Foden (€110m)
READ MORE: Messi & Ronaldo next: The three players to play at 5 World Cups
TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every country to compete at a FIFA World Cup?
